BRITAIN is in its best economic shape for a century.

That was the message from Dennis Turner, chief economist of HSBC Bank, in London, when he visited the bank's customers in Darlington yesterday.

The audience at the New Grange Hotel, included many of the town's biggest business names, including its so-called richest man, health club entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne.

Mr Turner, whose role at HSBC in the city involves advising bankers on economic trends at national and regional level, said there was no threat of the British economy going into a recession.

He said: "Chancellor Gordon Brown is doing a pretty good job of managing the British economy.

"He is keeping inflation in check and ensuring that the UK does not head into a recession.

"In fact, the Chancellor is managing to maintain the lowest inflation rate in the whole European Union, and that is something that we should be proud of.

"We have now had eight years of inflation at three per cent or less. The last time inflation was as low as this was in the 1940s and early 1950s.

"The general trend now is downward.

"By the end of this year I expect interest rates to be around the five per cent mark.

"On top of this we now have about 28 million people in employment and unemployment is below the one million mark for the first time in years."

He said the only potential problem for the UK economy was the impact of a slowdown in the US: "The US economy is experiencing a slowdown at the moment, and because it is the world's biggest economy the rest of the world starts to get cold feet.

"However, I expect the US to experience a V-shaped slowdown, that is quickly down then quickly back up again."